Rexnord plant closing
Around 200 employees could be affected by layoffs
Around 200 workers to lose jobs at Grafton facility by year’s end. Business, 1D
Rexnord Corp., the Milwaukee-based maker of commercial plumbing fixtures, conveyor systems and other industrial equipment, plans to close its Grafton facility by year’s end, according to company employees.
The plant, at 1272 Dakota Drive, makes conveyor systems for AnheuserBusch Cos., MillerCoors LLC and other manufacturers. It has around 200 employees.
Rexnord’s news media contacts haven’t responded to telephone messages and emails seeking more information. Layoffs are to begin in May, workers were told Monday. The last layoffs are scheduled for November, with the facility closing in December.
There were no specific reasons provided for the shutdown, employees said.
One worker said a Rexnord official said it was part of the company’s overall business plan.
Employees said a portion of the facility’s work was shifted in December to a Rexnord factory in Mexico. That affected around 15 to 20 employees.
Rexnord in 2017 closed an Indianapolis plant that had employed more than 300 people a year earlier. Many of those jobs were moved to Mexico.
Also in 2017, the company said it would build a new manufacturing plant and aerospace headquarters at a Rexnord facility in Downers Grove, Illinois, a Chicago suburb.
The company has been adding jobs at its Zurn Industries LLC commercial plumbing division, headquartered at 511 W. Freshwater Way, in the Reed Street Yards business park in Milwaukee.
The Zurn headquarters opened in late 2016, and had 85 employees by March 2019, according to the Department of City Development.
Zurn must eventually reach 120 employees by March 2021 to avoid repaying a $900,000 forgivable city loan that
helped finance its relocation from Erie, Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, work continues on renovating two adjacent downtown office buildings, 105-111 W. Michigan St., that Rexnord is leasing for its future headquarters.
The company has not answered questions about those offices, where work began in earnest last summer after the property was sold to an investors group led by developer Mike Klein.
The buildings, with around 150,000 square feet, could eventually house around 500 jobs, according to commercial industry real estate sources. Those renovations so far have cost around $15 million.
Rexnord’s main Milwaukee-area corporate offices are at 4701 W. Greenfield Ave., West Milwaukee.
The company last week reported net income of $137.2 million for the first three quarters of its current fiscal year, compared to a $30.3 million loss from the year-earlier period.
Rexnord’s revenue totaled $1.521 billion, a 0.5 percent increase from $1.513 billion.